For the first time a full album with recordings based on Yoko Ono’s 1964 collection of texts, event scores and drawings “Grapefruit”, a foundational cornerstone of what became known as conceptual art, and enveloping the orbits of Fluxus and experimental music. Performed by The Great Learning Orchestra which has during the 25 years of its existence worked with Gavin Bryars, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, J.g. Thirlwell, Arnold Dreyblatt a.o.

Originally self-published in 1964 in a limited edition of 500 copies under Yoko Ono’s own imprint, Wunternaum Press, and later reprinted in expanded editions, the collection of over 230 texts, event scores and drawings that comprise “Grapefruit” has long been considered a foundational text in what became known as Conceptual Art, and envelops the orbit of Fluxus and experimental music. Though comparisons to John Cage may seem obvious, Ono’s first attempts at textual composition actually pre-date her first encounter with the American composer by around a decade and have evolved free from Cage’s influence.

Another factor that sets these scores apart from associated forms of verbal notation from the same period (like La Monte Young’s “An Anthology Of Chance Operations” – with a contribution from Ono - or George Brecht’s “Water Yam”, both from 1963) is Ono’s ambivalence towards the necessity, or even possibility, of their physical realization – instead the idea being that the realization should take place in the mind of the reader (“Music of the Mind” is also the title of the current traveling exhibition which opened at Tate Modern, London in 2024). However, a number of pieces from “Grapefruit” function very well as performance or event scores, with several of them becoming mainstays of Ono’s concerts and performances throughout the early to mid 1960s. But hardly any performances have been recorded and released on disc (one notable exception being Sonic Youth’s recording of “Voice Piece For Soprano”) – so, 60 years after “Grapefruit” first appeared, “Selected Recordings From Grapefruit” is the very first full album of pieces selected from the many sections of the book.

The sonic realizations presented here are of a number of different kinds, encompassing studio-based ensemble performances, but also location, environmental and field recordings (and at times combinations of these), as the scores themselves dictate, and for the most part recorded live and acoustically, such that the performances, actions, situations and environments that you hear arereal. The accompanying booklet with rare performance photos and some original typewritten scores from Ono’s personal archive also includes the text instructions for each piece - thus allowing the listener to make a connection between the imaginative engagement and creative activity executed by the performing members of The Great Learning Orchestra and the resulting recording.

With 20 tracks and approx. 85 minutes duration, “Selected Recordings From Grapefruit” finally brings to ear some of the most important and influential 20th century avantgarde art!